This invention relates to an instrument panel construction for a vehicle body and more particularly to an instrument panel construction that has an instrument panel carrier that serves as a structural component of the vehicle body.
Motor vehicle bodies customarily include a frame or underbody that has a pair of vertical stantions or A-pillars on the opposite sides of the vehicle body at the juncture of the engine compartment and the passenger compartment. These stantions or A-pillars are connected to each other by a cross beam at the cowl of the vehicle body. See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,465 granted to Renzo Piano Jul. 5, 1983 which discloses a body structure that has side stantions that are connected to each other by two cross beams, one of which is at the cowl of the vehicle in the vicinity of the instrument panel.
Instrument panel constructions that include structural components that act as a cross beam connecting the stantions or A-pillars of the vehicle body are also known. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,739 granted to Siegfried Lorenz, Erich Altdorf and Hans Vogt Mar. 29, 1988 discloses a scuttle-dash instrument panel component comprising a central support part 2 of a rigid polyurethane foam material fibre-reinforced from a mat of continuous fibers and a second lower support part 3 likewise of fibre-reinforced rigid polyurethane foam material. The central support part 2 and the lower support part 3 are securely joined together along their approximately horizontal junction plane by a thin-film adhesive 7 so as to produce a rigid box-like transverse support which cooperates in force-transmitting manner with the bodywork structure by way of lateral flanges 8 and 9 at the junction plane. However, this rigid box-like transverse support has several drawbacks. The support parts 2 and 3 are molded in very complex shapes to absorb all the necessary ventilating and heating or air-conditioning units in a fully integrated form. Consequently load sharing is difficult and the parts are expensive to manufacture. Furthermore these complex molded plastic parts 2 and 3 must be joined together in a precise manner which adds further to the manufacturing expense. Moreover the load is transferred to the transverse support by way of lateral flanges at the junction plane of the two parts which concentrates the load at the flanges and increases the stress in these parts in and near the flanges. Another drawback is that the lower support part determines the interior styling in large part.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,568 granted to Franz Paefgen and Hermann Guhl Jul. 26, 1988 discloses an instrument panel construction for a motor car that includes a light alloy beam 1 which extends over the whole width of the vehicle compartment below the windshield and which carries an instrument top 2. This construction avoids at least some of the problems associated with the two-piece molded plastic construction discussed above. However, the light alloy beam 1 determines the interior styling in large part and it does not have any provision for holding several components associated with instrument panels, such as heating and ventilating or air conditioning units and controls, glove boxes, radios and knee bolsters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,571 granted to Donald R. Burry and Leonard J. Pilato Feb. 18, 1992 discloses a modular structural instrument panel carrier comprising panels 28 and 40 that are attached together to define a box beam assembly 54 which extends transversely across the vehicle. The panels 28 and 40 are preferably constructed of fiber reinforced plastic. This structure has many of the drawbacks that are associated with U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,739 granted to Siegfried Lorenz, Erich Altdorf and Hans Vogt Mar. 29, 1988 that is discussed above. Namely, the box beam assembly 54 consists of two complex molded plastic parts 28 and 40 that must be joined together in a precise manner which causes load sharing problems and expense. Moreover the load is transferred solely to the part 28 which concentrates the load and increases the stress in this parts. Furthermore panels 28 and 40 do not have any provision for holding instrument panel components such as bolster pads and wiring ducts.